Tower construction.



I. B. LEEPER.

TOWER CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-22,1913.

Patent-ed Apr. 25, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Fll. 2

FIIGJII T E M J. B. LEEPER.

TOWER CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22, 1913- Patented Apr. 25, 1916.

2 ,SHEETS-SHEET 2.

JOHN B. LEEPER, 0F GLENFIELD, PENNSYLVANIA.

TOWER CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 25, 19116.

Application filled January 22, 1913. Serial No. 743,583.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known tiat I, JOHN B. LEEPER, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Glentield, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Tower Construction, of which the following is a specification.

My' invention relates to the construction of towers or poles used in carrying power cables, telegraph and" telephone wires and similar apparatus and, while not restricted.

to such use, more particularly relates to the construction of towers carrying the heavy wires or cables forming po-werlines from an electric power plant to factories or other places of use. .It has heretofore been the practice with such towers to provide a concrete base on which the tower is secured in place by means of bolts. It has also been the practice to construct the stubs or lower-sections of the legs of such towers, which are embedded in the earth, with a plurality of vertical members which are rigidly secured to a grillage and which are spliced at about the ground level, one stub to each of the plurality of legs forming such towers.

\Vhen erecting the towers, particularly in isolated places as is frequently necessary in carrying power lines through unsettled territory, the facilities for transporting and handling the towers and stubs in delivering and erecting the towers are not of the best.

The towers ordinarily are built in the shop and the assembled towers are shipped to the place of erection or use. the stubs for such towers being formcdand shipped separately and being permanently positioned in the ground. after which the tower is stood upon end and is then lifted into position and connected to the projecting upper ends of the stubs which have been previously embedded in the ground. The stub ends of the towers. as heretofore constructed, are very rigid and it has been found extremely difficult to position the stub ends in the ground with sutlicient accuracy to enable a joint being made with the lower ends of the legs of the tower, the connection of the tower legs to the rigid stubs at times being found to be impossible, owing to inaccurate positioning of the stubs.

()ne object of my invention is to provide a tower having stub ends of improved con struction whereby a stub construction is provided which is very flexible during the erection of the tower and which, after being connected to its leg of the tower, is extreinely rigid and of greater strength than the stub ends as constructed heretofore.

Another object of my invention is to provide a tower having stubs connected to the tower legs in a novel manner whereby destruction ofthe legs of the tower by corrosion is avoided and overcome. Referring to the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is an elevation showing diagrammatically a tower having stubs thereon as constructed and arranged in accordance with my. invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation, on a larger scale, showing a detail of the construction of the stubs and the manner in which they are connected to the lower ends of the legs of the tower. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan on the line III1H of Fig. 2 showing the construction of the grillage as secured to the lower ends of. the stubs in accordance with this ini ention. Fig. -l is a detail elevation showing the manner of flattening the angle forming the stub 1n connectin the grillagethereto. Figs. 5, (3 and 7 are e evations showing diagrammatically the construction of modified forms of towers having stub ends constructed and connected thereto in accordance with this invention. Fig. 8 .is an elevation, on a large scale, showing a detail of the construction of the stubs used with the tower construction shown in Fig. Fig. 9 is a similar elevation showing a detail of the construction of the stub used with the tower con structions of Figs. 6 and T and the way in which the stubs are connected to the tower. Fig. 10 is a sectional elevation on the line XX of Fig. 9. x

In the accompanying drawings referring to Fig. 1 the numeral 2 designates the legs forming the corners of the tower which is rectangular in outline in horizontal cross section. The lower portions of the legs 2 incline outwardly and downwardly and the legs are connected together by means of the horizontal struts 3 and diagonal bracing 4 in the usual manner. In the construction of Fig. 1 the upper end of the tower is provided with cross arms 5. 6 and 7 from which the electric cables 8 are suspended, the cables being connected in any known desired manner. The lower end of each leg 2 of the tower is provided with a stub which, as shown. is formed of an. angle 9 having the grillage 10 on the lower end thereof constructed of angles 11, 11, placed back to back and angles 12, 12. The angles 11 and 12 are connected together by means of angles 13, 13 extending lengthwise at right angles to the length of the angles 11 and 12, the angles forming the grillage being riveted together in the usual known manner. The legs or sides of the lower end of the angle 9 are flattened or distorted so as to extend.

in substantially the same vertical plane to provide a flat surface which will permit the flattened end of the angle forming the stub 9 to be inserted between the vertically extending legs of the angles 11, 11, registering rivet holes being provided in the vertically extending legs'of the angles 11 and the adjacent flattened end of the stub 9. At an intermediate point in the length of the stub 9 short pieces of channels 11 are secured, one to each leg of the angle forming the stub, these channels forming transversely extending arms by which any side thrust put upon the stubs 9 by the diagonal brac-.

ing 4 is transmitted to the surrounding ground. The upper ends of the stub 9 are made to project somewhat .abovethe ground level designated by the numeral 15 and these upper ends of the stubs 9 overlap the lower ends of the legs 2 of the tower as is clearly shown in Fig. 2. The overlapping ends of the legs 2 and stubs 9 are provided with registering holes for therivets or bolts by which they are secured together when the tower is erected in place on the stubs. The diagonal bracing 1 is arranged to extend downwardly below the ground level 15, the lower end of the angles forming this diagonal bracing, being secured to the stub 9 adjacent to the channels 1 1, in this way stiffening the erected tower to a materially greater extent than that secured heretofore by the usual construction in which the diagonal bracing terminates above the ground level. It will also be readily seen that by reason of the flattened or distorted ends on the stubs 9 used in the construction of Fig. 1 the angles'forming-thegrillage 10 extend lengthwise at an angle of 45 degrees to the planes of the facesof the angles forming Y the stubs 9 above the grillage.

In'the construction of Fig. 5 the legs 16 forming the corners of the tower are vertical instead of tapering outwardly and downwardly as in Fig. 1, and inthis casethe legs 16 forming the corners of the tower are connected together by horizontal struts 17 and diagonal bracing 18 and areprovided with stubs 19 secured to the ends of the legs 16. The stubs 19 extend above the ground level 15 and the diagonal bracing 18 extends below-the level of the ground as has been described in connection with Fig. 1. The stubs '19 are provided with a grillage 20 lilge that shown in Fig. 10, this construction being similar to that shown in Fig. 3 but being secured to the lower end of the stubs so that the angles forming the grillage extend in the same planes as the legs of the angles forming the stubs instead of at an angle of 15 degrees as in the construction of Figs. 1 to 1.

In the construction of Figs. 6 and T the legs 16 extend downwardly and outwardly in a. manner similar to those of Figs. 1 to 4 and these towers also are provided with stub ends 19 having a. grillage 20 attached thereto in the same manner as shown in Fig. 10.

In the stub construction shown in Figs. 8 and 9 a channel 1-1 or. when desired, two

channels 1% are secured at an intermediate point in the length thereof to the legs of the angle forming the stub 19 and in these constructions the diagonal bracing 18 is extended below the ground level 15 as has been described in connection with Figs. 1 to l.

The advantages of my invention as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, arise from the extension of the lower portion of the towers to a. point below the ground level in attaching the cross bracing to the stubs and from locating the connection between the stubs and the legs of the towers at a point above the ground level.

By making the stubs of a single angle, positioning of the stubs in the ground, which is done prior to erecting the tower, need not be so exact and accurate in order to match the holes when erecting the tower as the single member forming the stubs will be more or less flexible which permits of its being bent or sprung into position in attaching the tower to the positioned stubs.

Modifications in the construction and arrangement of p the members forming the stubs, legs and cross bracings of the tower may be made without departing from my invention. Shapes other than angles may be used informing the legs, stubs and cross bracing and in constructing the grillage, and other changes may be made without departing from my invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A tower or pole comprising a plurality of legs rigidly connected by diagonal bracing on each side of the tower and disjoined stubs detachably spliced to the lower end of the tower legs and having diagonal braces detachably spliced to the diagonal bracing of the tower, said stubs and diagonal braces being adapted to be embedded in the ground to form anchors for the tower, and the splices detachably securing the stubs and diagonal braces to the tower being located above the embedded connections by which the diagonal braces are fastened to the stubs.

2. A tower or pole comprising a plurality of legs rigidly connected by diagonal bracthe tower legs and having diagonal braces detachably spliced to the diaggnal bracing of the tower, said stubs and diagonal braces being adapted to be embedded in the ground to form anchors for the tower with the ends thereof projecting above the ground level and the splices detachably securing the stubs and diagonal braces to the tower being located l'ietween the lower end of the diagonal bracing and the embedded connections by which the diagonal braces are fastened to the stubs.

3. A tower or pole comprising a plurality of legs having diagonal bracing rigidly connecting the legs on each side of said tower or pole, disjoined stubs detachably spliced to the lower end of said tower legs having diagonal braces detach-ably connecting the stubs to the diagonal bracing on the tower, said diagonal braces being fastened to an intermediate point i the length of the stubs, said stubs and diagonal braces being adapted to be embedded in the ground to form anchors for the tower, and the splice joints detachably connecting the stubs and diagonal braces to the tower being located in a plane below the diagonal bracing and above the embedded point of connection between the diagonal braces and stubs.

4. A tower or pole comprising a plurality of legs having diagonal bracing rigidly connecting the legs on each side of said tower or pole, disjoined stubs detachably spliced to the lower end of said tower legs having diagonal braces detachably connecting the stubsto the diagonal bracing on the tower, said diagonal braces being fastened to an intermediate point in the length of the stubs, said stubs and diagonal braces being adapted to be embedded i the ground to form anchors for the tower and the splice joints detachably connecting the stubs and diagonal braces to the tower being located in planes between the lower end of the diagonal bracing and the embedded connection fastening the diagonal braces to the stubs.

5. A tower or pole comprising a plurality of legs, diagonal bracing on each side of the tower to rigidly connect the tower legs, a detachable stub spliced to the lower end of each leg and adapted to be embedded in the ground to form an anchor therefor, and diagonal braces connected to an intermediate point in the length of the stubs, and spliced to said diagonal bracing, the splices detachably connecting the stubs and diagonal braces therefor to the tower being located above the point of connection of the diagonal braces to the stubs. I

(3. A tower or pole comprising a plurality of legs, diagonal. bracing on each side of the tower to rigidly connect the tower legs, a

detachable stub spliced to the lower end of each leg and adapted to be embedded in the ground to form an anchor therefor, and diagonal braces connected to the-stubs at an intermediate point in the length of the stubs and spliced to said diagonal bracing, the splices detachably connecting the stubs and diagonal braces therefor to the tower being located above the point of connection of the diagonal braces to the stubs and closely ad.- jacent to the diagonal bracing of the tower.

7. A tower or pole comprising a plurality of legs, diagonal bracing on each side of the tower to rigidly connect the tower legs. a detachable stub spliced to the lower end of each leg and adapted to be embedded in the ground to form an anchor therefor, said stubs having diagonal members connected thereto at an intermediate point in the length of the stubs and spliced to the diagonal bracing, and bearing plates on the sides of the stubs to transmit side thrust from the en'ibedded stubs to the surrounding earth, the splices for detachably connecting the stubs and diagonal braces to the tower being located above the point of connection of the diagonal braces to the stubs and closely adjacent to the diagonal lnacing of the tower.

Intestimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN B. LEEPER. lVitnesses RICHARD KLEIn Jr., MARSHALL \VIIJLIAMS. 

